Venetian blind



` March 17, 1942. B, WALKER 2,276,898

` VENETIAN BLIND Filed April 50, 1941 INVENTOR.

Patented Mar., i7, 1942 UNITED sTA'ri-:s

2,216,898 VENETIANBLIND t 1 Brooks Walker, Piedmont. t

Application April iz claim; This invention pertains to improvementsQinVenetian blind construction and thelike, 'partie-A ularly tomodiiications in the construction of. the

tiltingand raising mechanism and the method .l of attaching the blindsto the fascia.

able weight between or hey/ond supportsi 1 Linate me away with the tiltrail by anchoring the mom side of the ladder tage rigidly relativfo thefascia, preferably taclsing or staplingjfthe same to the fascia. l havedesigned a special bracket for supporting the fascia 'relative toftii'el,

ceiling, walls, or window frame, which brackets also incorporate thepulleys over which thejiiiting cords pass. rThe same pivot or axle lforthe n lifting cord pulleys also acts for pulleys `y "over whichcords orexible elements pass to Kcontrol the tilting mechanism by raising orloweringfthe window side of the ladder tapes or exible' slet spacingdevice. In modern blind construction, fascias are practically essential,but from'an apparent standpoint it is desirable that thelfasclas l Y n.i 30 lto corresponding parts inthe-drawing be only approximately twicethe slatA widthior less, if possible, under certain conditions. At thesame time, it is essential that in all positionsof the slats, whethertilted up or down, no klight streak show between the top slat and thefascia when in the closed position, and also that the pulley mechanism,as well as the attachment between the tilt and the back tape of theladder tape, be hidden from view from the insideioffthe room in order topresent 'as neat an appearance as possible. All this is accomplished inthis ap-y plioation. Although l have shown, in most cases, the fasciassupported by bracketsalone without a dust cap, in case such a dust capis used, it maybe attached to the fascia and may he suppor'd by"separate brackets with angle brackets tying kthe fascia to the dust cap,also carrying the pulleys for the lift and tilt cords. The cord locksfor controlling both lifting and tilting are supported on the fascia oron the dust cap Without the necessity of routine either, which o coursereduce the cost of manufacture and assembly.l

This construction also does away with thenccessity of routing the tiltrail for the passagefoliv lifting cords, and for routing the head Y'railfor' icl. .15e-17);-

orivk tion t'oig'u're 1il 1"? I is Aafpartiali end section di t ppe'rportion o: 21, snowie'the'fsietsime cwi, demarcation; s i

igurejfis'a-'viewsiniilar'to-lg'buts vWin the Gilets in araisemfeiosedffposition'. l Figure -5 is.v a. view trenitalia-na inwhich theitsciafan'fdfsumioz'tiiig'` lira y n, mounted` on dceilingkffforr'eces 'f Referringtotheforawinfidetail, icuiariy Figures to 4,inclusive; If'havfshwn Window i. a, window or wan '2 eny whichisi-'sixotivo "pulleys I 6 land f 11, held apart -by-fsparatprs til, 3i,and 32, if such separators are deemed necessary, as it' may tbe-equally'satisfactory' t' ilse ywider rn'illeysl` I8 andy i1 which buttag'ainsteach {other' and keep the cords it 255 from 'tting entangled bymeanskof the jpulleyjganges iid their pronimitytobracket 6 whichdesf'nofllow the "cords,- toig'etfjoutof the pulleys.

ternate construction would be lto allo 'th '[leys.v 'i8 and iito oat'onaxle'l to End-their i neutral position. f Y "The blind' ,itself @mais,of 'ladder a cross ruines Mifwhithfsurnortsfslat? {1 isrreierebiy a.bttm and similarpulley I6 at bracket] would be located above theopposite edge of the slats. `Cords 26 are suitably attached to bottomrail 6 by passlifting cords, or other suitable manner.

The room-side of the ladder tape 6 is suitably attached to the fascia bynails, staples, or other devices, as shown in 66., The window I is atwliagwe prefer to call the back or window side of theblind, and theladder tape at that side is secured to the tilting cords 25 and 26,respec-` tively, in some suitable manner, such as byfolding the ends ofthe ladder tape tentwise across the tilt cord 25 and then sewing,stapling, or clipping the ladder tape to the cord in some suitablemanner. An alternate construction is to insert an eyelet 66 in theladder tape, as sh'own under bracket 1 and then pass tilting cord26through said eyelet and tying a knot in the end of the cord to form anattachment between the end of the cord and the ladder tape. Any othersuitable manner of attaching cords or other flexible elements to theladder tape may also be applied. By this construction, when it isdesired to tilt the blind, the operator pulls on cords 25 and 26 whichmay be tied together by cord bracket I3. 'I'hese tilting ycords passover pulley I2 and adjacent cord stop 63A which may be of anyconventional or improved construction.v Cords 20 and 2I,being connectedto the bottom rail l, lif-t in a conventional `manner and it ls'lockedin any desirable position by moving the cords 25- and 26 outwardly tocause dog l5 to vengage the cords as soon as the blind starts to lower.To prevent cords and 2l from piling up on the iioor as the blind islifted, I have shown a construction wherein-they can continue to becomecords and 26 which control the tilting mechanism.

This continuous lift and tilt arrangement only yallows th'e cord toreach the floor in twice the raising distance which would be the case ifthe continuous cord were not used. When it is desired to tilt the blind,the operator does so by raising or lowering cords 25 and 26 and lockingthem in a desired position by moving them outwardly to cause dog 43A tolock thecords at the pulley I6 to retain the slats in any desiredtiltedposition. When theslats are in the raised position shown in Figure 4,there may be an oncenter action which' is overcome by the addition of aspring 66 attached between the fascia and tilt cord 26, to urge the cordinto a slat lowered position and .to overcome the friction of the pulley66 and dog 65 when in the non-locking position.

If it is desired to only have one lifting and tilting cord, it is veryeasily accomplished, as the total motion of the tilting cord is only alittle over vtwice the vslat width, and a junction between cord 25 'and26 can be made adjacent pulley I1 when in the slat lowered position andthere will be suilicient room provided between pulley I1 and lock pulley46 to allow full two-way tilt of the slats. Pulleys 42 and 66 and theirassociated cord locks can be placed at opposite ends of the blind on thefascia, if it is desired from an operating standpoint, though in thiscase it would probably not be very practical to have th'e lifting cordscontinuous. When it is desired to remove the slats forrepairs, cleaning,and inspection etc., it is only necessary to remove the i'asciaI IIIwith its attached supporting brackets 6 and 1 6 from falling too fardown through bracket 5. Where the blind is to be installed in a recessnear thewindow, a construction similar to Figures may be incorporated.wh'erein a bracket 50 is at- 5 tached to the window frame 2 by means ofa suiting through a hole and tying a knot 20A in the l0 notches IIA passby projections 50A of the wall bracket. When the bracket is lowered inthe position shown` in Figure 8, it is retained against displacement byits own weight.

If a dust cap is used between the fascia and the Y1sY wan, it woum bemated as indicated at come lines at 55 in Figure 4, in which oasebracket y6 could be attached to dust cap 55- and fascia I0, and couldform thel supporting bracket, or a separate support angle bracket couldsupport the 2o blind to dust cap 55, fascia I6, bracket 6 and 1 etc.

Under certain circumstances, it may be found desirable to attach the topslat to the sides of the ladder tape so as to make said top slat act asa hinge. This is done by having two small holes at the 2:,A edge of thetop slat rthrough which cords or metal clips 6II'and 6I pass to flexiblyconnect the edges of the top slat to the sides of the ladder tape. Thisis particularly important if the pulleys that control the tilting of theslats by raising and 30 lowering the rear ladder tape are close to theanchored side of'the ladder tape, causing a side pressure onl the edgeof the top slat as it is forced to a' lowered from a raised position,particularly'in the lhorizontal position. Such side pressure in certaininstances forces the top slat out of parallel with the other slats,which are resting on the ladder tape rungs, and sometimes causes theblind to bind during the tilting operatien'. Attachments such as 60' and6I -have been el. 40 found valuable in eliminating this bind. On

short blinds itis only necessary to make such attachments at one tape;on long blinds vit might be advisable to make such attachments at morethan one tape.

While I have described and illustrated several embodiments ofmyinvention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious changes, omissions, additions, and substitutions may be made inthe construction of the apparatus and that the apparatus may be put to.uses otherthan those described without departing from the spirit of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

. 1. A Venetian blind supporting means, including a main support, aplurality of blind slats suspended by exible elements from said mainsupport, .said ilexible elements including front and rear portionsrelative to said slats, a fascia 00 element at the top of said blind,one side of said flexible element rigidly secured to said fascia, a

l support for said fascia, flexible lifting elements for collapsing andtilting said slats, pulleys for said exible elements, said pulleyssupported at least partially by said fascia support.

2. A Venetian blind, including spaced slats. a ladder tape, flexiblelifting elements, a fascia element at the top of said blind, said laddertape having `two side tapes and cross tapes adjacentV T0 each slat, oneside of said tapes being firmly attached adjacent said fascia, the otherside of 1 said ladder tape being manually adjustable to tilt said slatsto a closed position with the slats y tilted up or down.

out of wall bracket 5. A stop 6A prevents bracket 75 3. A Venetianblind, including spaced slats, a

aeraaea ladder tape, flexible lifting elements, a fascia element at thetop of said blind, said ladder tape having two side tapes and crosstapes adjacent each slat, one side of said tapes being firmly attachedadjacent said fascia, the other side of said ladder tape being manuallyadjustable to tilt said slats to a closed position with the slats tiltedup or down, the top slat being supported just above the bottom of saidfascia when in .the horizontal position.

4. A Venetian blind, including spaced slats, a ladder tape, flexiblelifting elements, a fascia element at the top of said blind, said laddertape having two side tapes and cross tapes adjacent each slat, one sideof said tapes being firmly attached adjacent said fascia, the other sideof said ladder tape being manually adjustable to tilt said slats to aclosed position with the' slats tilted up or down, a lock device, saidilexible lifting elements travelling through said lock device which issupported on said fascia.

5. A Venetian blind, including spaced slats, a ladder tape, flexiblelifting elements, a fascia element at the top of said blind, said laddertape.

ladder tape, flexible lifting elements, a fascia element at the top ofsaid blind, said ladder tape havingtwo side tapes and cross tapesadjacent each slat, one side of said tapes being :drmly attachedadjacent said fascia, the other side of said ladder tape being manuallyadjustable to tilt said slats to a closed position with the slats tiltedup or down, a cord lock device, a cord for tilting said slats, saidflexible lifting elements and said tilting cords both passing throughcord lock devices, said cord lock devices being supported on saidfascia.

'7, A Venetian blind, including spaced slats, a ladder tape, flexiblelifting elements, a fascia element at the top of said blind, said.ladder tape having two side tapes and cross tapes adjacent each slat,one side of said tapes being firmly attached adjacent said fascia, theother side of said ladder tape being manually adjustable to tilt saidslats to a closed position with the slats tilted up or down, a cord lockdevice, a cord for tilting said slats, said flexible lifting elementsand said tilting cords both passing through cord vlock devices.

fascia, pulleys for said flexible lifting elements, said pulleys beingsupported in said brackets.

8. A Venetian blind,`including spaced slats, a

rladder tape, flexible lifting elements, a fascia 1 a plurality of metalbrackets for supporting said i element at the top of said blind, saidladder tape having two side tapes and cross tapes adjacent each slat,one side oi' said tapes being rmly attached adjacent said fascia, theother side of said ladder tape being manually adjustable to tiltsaidslats to a closed position with the slats tilted up or down, a cordlock device, a cord for tilting said slats, Said flexible liftingelements and said tilting cords both passing through cord lock devices,a 'plurality of metal brackets for supporting said fascia, pulleys forsaid tilting cords to pass over, vsaid pulleys being mounted in saidbrackets.

9. A Venetian/blind, including spaced slats, a ladder tape, flexiblelifting elements, a fascia element at the top of said blind, said laddertape having two side tapes and cross tapes adjacenteach slat, one sideof said tapes being ilrmly attached adjacent said fascia, the other sideof said ladder tape being manually adjustable to tilt said slats to aclosed position with the slats tilted up or down, a cord lock device, acord for tilting said slats, said flexible lifting elements and saidtilting cords both passing through cord lock devices, a plurality ofmetal brackets for supporting said fascia, pulleys'for said exibletilting and lifting elements to pass over said pulleys, said pulleysbeing supported in said brackets.

tilting said slats in both directions, said pulleysbeing mounted on thesupports for said fascia, said supports being substantially U shaped andforming the only support for said fascia.

12. A Venetian blind,` including pulleys, exible elements for liftingsaid blind, a fascia, a support for said fascia, a plurality of slats, anexible slat supporting element, manual means for lifting and tiltingsaid slats in both directions, said pulleys being mounted on'tnesupports for said fascia, said supports being separate short bracketsadjacent two or more flexible slat supporting elements and being thesole support for said fascia..

' BROOKS WALKER.

Patent No. 2,276,898 Granted March 17, 1942 BROOKS WALKER The aboveentitied patent was extended Jul)1 24. 1951, under the provisions of theactY of June 30, 1950, for 6 years and 214 days from the expiration ofthe original term thereof.

Uommissioner of Patents.

